Those were the days when Vishalakshmi mantap was getting completed. In parallel, lots of other buildings were also getting finished.
I was given to build 40 rooms for accommodation and my own labour strength was around one hundred.
There must have been atleast a thousand people working in ashram and work was happening day and night.
Gurudev used to visit every project site and inspect from outside and give suggestions and corrections and then he will go to VM and spend a lot of time there, supervising the finishes ( a big book can be written on VM).
It was one of those days and Gurudev was supposed to travel to Germany and he was to leave around 5 pm from ashram to airport.
Gurudev had come to our site and had asked my engineer if the tiling was fully completed and my engineer had said yes, and Gurudev had taken him to one toilet in the first floor where just one tile was not fixed and had said it is not complete until this last tile is fixed. We had apologised.
Gurudev’s bags were loaded in his Innova and as he was about to get into the car to leave to the airport, he stepped back and said ” I am cancelling my travel”.
He then called the kitchen incharge and asked him to prepare pulao and a sweet for 1000 people.
The food was getting ready. He told all of us to call all the labourers from the sites to VM. The word spread and labourers started pouring in front of VM. It was a sea of workers, some with clothes tied to their heads, some with granite dust on their face and hands, some bare foot, men and women.
The food got ready and came to VM with the leaf bowls and placed exactly at where NANDI sits in front of the east gate.
We realised we have to serve food to all the labourers. As we got ahead, Gurudev asked all of us to move back, and he sat with one knee on the floor and another on his feet ( veerasana) and started to serve food to the labourers. Our constant interruption to serve was replied by a stern gaze and we withdraw silently.
As he was serving, he started to tell the labourers to be happy come what may. He was looking at every one, smiling and serving food.
And he said ” you see the people around me, once this VM gets ready, they will not allow you to come near me. So, I have come today to meet all of you.”
We have seen many instances where people get food for others, but it is our Gurudev who served food to every labourer, upto the last one. I could see people crying, wiping their tears and carrying the prasad as it was physically personally served by Gurudev. It was a sight of what he endured for the goodness and well being of others.
When Gurudev says, I will not show you the path, but will take you to the destination, he means it literally.
When he says, leave all your worries here in the ashram and go happily, he intends that and expects us to do exactly as he says.
When he says, either you worry or have a Guru in life, he means that we should drop our worries and problems then and there and yes, he is capable of taking care of us, of all our needs.
So, I was just a witness to what had happened that evening, no satsang as Gurudev served food for almost three hours to each and every labourer and we all there were witness to it.
Yes, we had just witnessed the revelation of the love and care HE has for every being on this planet
-Ramesh Jalihal
